VVT petitie vrijlating Tibetaanse politieke gevangenen
PETITION RELEASE POLITICAL PRISONERS TIBET
je vindt ook een petitiedocument, om te downloaden en uit te printen, via onze link vvt inhoud/pdf

Aktie Bagdro

1. The sign-on letter to Ban Ki-moon can be viewed online at http://www.tibetnetwork.org/tibetthirdpole-banletter. The letter calls on Mr Ban to use his influence with China to:

i. Halt the removal of Tibetan nomads from the grasslands and return stewardship of Tibet's grasslands to Tibet's nomads.

ii. Halt all land uses that threaten the Tibetan Plateau's ecosystems, ecosystem services and water resources.

iii. Press China's government to ensure that Tibetan nomads are the key decision-makers in any activities involving Tibetan grasslands and freely consent to any efforts made to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change in the region.

2. Official Chinese government statistics state that 89% of Qinghai's nomads (approx 100,000 families) have been resettled. See Qinghai: Settling the Nomads" by Dr Susette Cooke: See http://www.case.edu/affil/tibet/tibetanNomads/documents/Qinghai.PDF
In August 2008 Xinhua announced that more than 73,700 nomadic Tibetans would be resettled from their ancestral homelands by the headwaters of the Yellow River in Gannan Prefecture (Gansu Province) into permanent brick houses. See http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/15/content_9343243.htm
In October 2008 Xinhua reported the launch of a huge resettlement programme by the authorities in Sichuan Province, totalling 470,000 nomads over a 5 year period. See http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-35906320081011
3. See http://welcome.warnercnr.colostate.edu/~jklein/
4. China has admitted a political motivation to the removal of the nomads. In 2007, the Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary Zhang Qingli stated that the restructuring of Tibetan farming and grazing communities was not only to promote economic development, but to counteract the Dalai Lama's influence.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/eap/119037.htm. In March 1998 Qi Jingfa, then China's Vice-Minister of Agriculture, was quoted by Xinhua as stating that it was the Chinese government's policy "to end the nomadic way of life for all herdsmen by the end of the century".
The International Tibet Support Network (ITSN) is a global coalition of Tibet related non-governmental organizations, which works to maximize the effectiveness of the worldwide Tibet movement. ITSN Member organizations hold varied positions on Tibet's future political status, but all regard Tibet as an occupied country and are dedicated to ending human rights violations in Tibet, and to working actively to restore the Tibetan people's right under international law to determine their own political, economic, social, religious, and cultural status.

1. Halt the removal of Tibetan nomads from the grasslands and return stewardship of Tibet's grasslands to Tibet's nomads.
2. Halt all land uses that threaten the Tibetan Plateau's ecosystems, ecosystem services and water resources.
3. Press China’s government to ensure that Tibetan nomads are the key decision-makers in any activities involving Tibetan grasslands and freely consent to any efforts made to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change in the region.

Final Document of the 2009 Sino-Tibetan Conference ‘Finding Common Ground’ in Geneva, august 10 09

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Uyghurs in China: Living in a Culture of Fear
De hoogste chef van de communistische partij in Urumqi heeft bekendgemaakt dat de aanstichters van de onlusten zullen worden geëxecuteerd. Volgens de autoriteiten zijn zo’n duizend personen, veelal studenten, gearresteerd.
Zondag vielen bij rellen volgens officiële cijfers minstens 156 doden,
volgens de oppositie meer dan vierhonderd.
Scores killed in China protests, 6 july 2009
watch the video from BBC

De 74ste verjaardag van HH De Dalai Lama
En Statement of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile on the occasion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birth anniversary-2009

The 168 member organisations of the International Tibet Support Network (note 1) express their deep concern over the tragic events that are unfolding in East Turkestan

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Canvas Documentaire: De Angst Voorbij. Passie voor mensenrechten
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Book Review: Human Rights in China, After the Olympic Games Contributors point to deterioration in every aspect
By Nico
Epoch Times Staff Jul 12, 2009
Book Review: Human Rights After the Olympic Games

RIGHTS DENIED: The Brussels-based organization Human Rights Without Frontiers has published a strongly-worded account detailing
the worsening human rights situation in China. (amazon.com) Human rights activists continually hope for the best in China and,
as the world witnessed during and after the Beijing Olympics, their hopes are continually dashed.

The Brussels-based organization Human Rights Without Frontiers put together presentations and materials on China’s human rights
record gleaned from a conference held at the European Parliament on December 2, 2008.

Collaborating with the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, the organization published their report in May 2009.

If the goal of this book is to give an overall view on the state of human rights in China today, then I would say: mission accomplished.
The book covers human rights violations from Tibet and Darfur, the use of the death penalty, and freedom of belief,
to the organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners and much more.

The book does not shy away from strong statements. The only positive development comes from within the European Union (EU)
where policymakers say that a dialogue does not mean that we have to give up the values we consider to be universal.

One of the biggest obstacles is obtaining hard proof about human rights allegations. Emmanouil Athanasiou (FIDH)
comments: “The State Secret System makes it very difficult to obtain reliable information on a wide variety of issues.
It’s the single most significant obstacle to the prevention of torture in China..... Ahead of the Olympics, the regime did
everything to protect its ‘good’ reputation and worked very hard not only to clean the capital from garbage and ugly buildings
but also to clean it from migrants, the homeless, political dissidents and human rights activists..... It’s unwilling to take
note of any kind of criticism because simply, it has the luxury to ignore it!”

On the issue of the death penalty Marie Holzman (Solidarité Chine) asks: “Is this punishment truly used to punish the guilty,
or only to convey the message that the Communist Party is master of life and death of all the citizens it has decided to control?”

China remains the country that executes the greatest number of people each year.

The list of death penalty offenses increases constantly and includes “voluntary transmission of contagious diseases” and “pick pocketing.”
The court often adds “and others” to the allegation, thereby greatly expanding the margin of interpretation.

Olympian John Carlos at the Human Right Tour Relay in San Francisco, CA. Prior to the Beijing Olympics a Falun Gong advocacy group
organized a (HRTR) alongside the Olympic Torch Relay.Willy Fautré (HRWF Int’l) addresses the lack of
improvement on religious freedom after the Olympics. The government recognizes five so-called “normal” religions: Protestantism,
Catholicism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam, although the regime “monitors” and “supervises” their activities which is ironic given
the atheist nature of the regime. It restricts religious practice to registered places and organizations to control the growth and
scope of activities.

A terrifying example of this control is the persecution of Falun Gong that started in 1999 after it became a very popular form of
qigong in China. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Committee formed the “610 office,” an organization with the sole mission
of “cracking down on Falun Gong.”

610 offices were set up in every Chinese city, village, government agency, institution, and school. Since 1999 more than
3,000 practitioners have been confirmed tortured to death, and over 10,000 sent to labor camps. More than 6,000 were sentenced
to prison terms of up to 18 years and hundreds of thousands were illegally arrested or detained.

In their presentation, internationally-recognized human rights lawyer David Matas and former Canadian Minister of State for Asia
and the Pacific David Kilgour highlight an even more horrifying issue concerning the persecution of Falun Gong.

In 2006 they wrote a report on “organ harvesting in China.” They concluded that between 2001 and 2006 China killed Falun Gong
practitioners in the tens of thousands so that their organs could be sold to foreign “transplant tourists.” The reportedly short
waiting times that had been advertised for perfectly-matched organs would suggest the existence of a computerized matching system
for transplants and a large bank of live prospective donors.

Based on data from the China Medical Organ Transplant Association, between 2000 and 2005, 60,000 transplants were performed.
Last year alone close to 10,000 kidney transplants and nearly 4,000 liver transplants were completed. There are many more organ
transplants than from identifiable sources and this is explained by organs harvested from Falun Gong practitioners.

Leah Straus’ presentation on environmental issues produced shocking figures. Her report stated that over 750,000 people die prematurely
each year in China because of air and water pollution. No one in China is immune to the threat pollution poses daily.
Pollution has made cancer China’s leading cause of death. And it’s getting worse day by day.

The report gives horrifying details. Every 30 seconds a child is born in China with physical defects as a result of environmental
degradation. Industrial dumping has left sections of many rivers “unfit for human contact.” Only one percent of the country’s 560
million city dwellers breath air considered “safe” by the EU standards and 20 of the 30 most polluted cities worldwide are in China.
Smog in Beijing blocks 10 to 25 percent of the sunlight.

In 2007 China forced the World Bank to remove pollution-death estimates from a report it prepared for the Environmental Ministry.
Chinese officials told the bank the numbers were too sensitive and might contribute to growing civil unrest.

Leah Straus concluded that “To respect international human rights, Chinese government must take specific measures to safeguard
individuals from the threat of pollution. The economic miracle will end soon because the environment can no longer keep pace…”

Friends of Tibet’s Inge Hermans concurs by stating that the Chinese regime uses the Tibetan plateau as a nuclear waste dump and allows
other countries to do the same, making huge profit.

Hermans says “Whoever dominates the Himalayas, dominates Asia. Whoever possesses Tibet is master of the water reserves for all of Asia.
The pollution due to the waste dumping threatens the water supply of the population of Asia.” Hermans says the regime also plans to
transform Tibet’s great grasslands into giant industrial complexes.

The Chinese regime is very sensitive with regards to the Tibetan issue although the Dalai Lama has frequently stipulated that he
strives for autonomy under Chinese law instead of independence.

The Chinese government struck Tibet hard as the Olympics approached. Inge Hermans said, “Many of us hoped that the Olympic Games
in Beijing would provide the opportunity of placing a sort of ‘Trojan Horse’ of human rights into the heart of China. On the contrary,
the repression of the Tibetan people has never been more efficient and brutal. China has isolated Tibet completely from the outer world.
This is total censorship.”

“Are we in the West not also responsible for what has happened in Tibet and China over the last several decades? Hasn’t our insatiable
hunger for “more” brought all this on? The hard cash, the cheap labor, cheaper costs when there are nearly nonexistent social
controls—all have served to blind us from the terrible facts.

“Once we closed these wildly profitable deals with the Chinese, we suddenly became much less concerned about all of our good
intentions regarding working conditions, the environmental or civil and political rights. What we in the West have long since
deemed intolerable and unacceptable should also not be accepted by us in countries with which we trade. Many millions of
Chinese citizens are paying the price for our hypocrisy.”

This report summarizes the deplorable human rights situation in China. I encourage everyone to read this book because human rights
involves each and every one of us.


"Human rights in China After the Olympics" by Human Rights Without Frontiers Int'l and edited by Willy Fautré (2009) is
contributed by Susi Dennison, Emmanouil Athanasiou, Marie Holzman, Mamtimin Ala, Vincent Metten, David Matas, David Kilgour,
Leah Strauss, Reggie Garcia Littlejohn, Sang Hun Kim, and Jonathan Holslag and published by Human Rights Without Frontiers
International (Brussels) and is available at amazon.com .

Order Now!

www.createspace.com

Human Rights in China After the Olympics

(2009/96pp/softbound/$19.95/ISBN 978-1-44861-056-3)
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Uyghurs in China: Living in a Culture of Fear

By Mamtimin Ala, Human Rights Without Frontiers
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Since 1949 when the homeland of Uyghurs, East Turkestan, which the Chinese call Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, was occupied by the Chinese army with the support of the former dictator, Joseph Stalin, Uyghurs have been subjected to repressive policies of the Chinese government.
As a totalitarian country, China was originally founded on the official state ideology—an ideology of Marxism—as a manipulative tool to homogenize all kinds of different discourses towards the univocal goal of the Communist state.
This ideology is now already turned into the disguised form of ultra-nationalism, promoting political authoritarianism and cultural hegemony intolerant to cultural diversity.
The recent organization of the 2008 Beijing Olympic games that caused a huge national ecstasy and pride among ordinary Chinese citizens has successfully achieved the refreshing transformation from a communist-state to a nationalist state—a transformation that makes Chinese people more self-assertive and less self-critical.
Uyghurs are an indigenous people in the natural resources rich land of East Turkestan thrived. They prospered throughout their history until the establishment of Chinese rule in 1949.
On two occasions before Communist rule, Uyghurs had created an independent republic, though short-lived, twice in 1933 and 1944, respectively.
Still finding themselves under the ineluctable grip of the bitter memories of the bygone republics, Uyghurs are now being confronted by an unprecedentedly harsh political reality.
As the Chinese government has beefed up its efforts to suppress any form of political discourses and aspirations different from the official one since 1949, Uyghurs seeking for democracy and freedom are denied their legal, cultural and economic rights, and suffer from a growing sense of cultural dilution, economic exploitation, and religious discrimination.
The 9/11 massacre in the United States in 2001 has been a turning point not only for the entire setting of the foreign policy of the United States, but also for the modification of China’s public rhetoric and political discourse about Uyghurs and Tibetans in the name of counter-terrorism.
Over the past seven years, officials of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have unreservedly used the highly controversial concept of the“war on terror” as a justification for their repressive treatment of Uyghurs in East Turkestan and as a pretext to slander indiscriminately all other Uyghur human rights organizations around the world, which are currently active in promoting human rights abuses in East Turkistan.
Although Chinese officials have placed tremendous emphasis on the threat of “terrorism” in East Turkistan, there is no compelling evidence either from foreign governments’ or Chinese sources to justify such a claim.
More aggressive than before, the Chinese state-controlled media is becoming a forefront in the state-image construction campaign to vilify the image of Uyghurs both in China and overseas as a “terrorist people” —an image that deeply hurts the national pride, self-respect and self-confidence of Uyghurs.
Obviously, this is a carefully designed psychological warfare that intends as much to provoke the feeling of self-hatred and of guilt in the hearts of Uyghurs as a whole as to gain sympathetical support from the terrorism-ridden countries and beyond.
By virtue of this warfare, the Chinese government is patiently anticipating the heinous, indeed somehow miraculous, justification of its repressive treatment of Uyghurs not only from without, but also from within. That is, the final aim of this warfare is to render Uyghurs feel themselves as a guilty people that deserve the punishment Chinese authorities are currently inflicting upon.
In addition, one of the major repercussions of the frequent use of this designation is the loss of credibility and transparency of the global war on terrorism. Since the tragic events of 9/11, there has been an increase in arbitrary detentions, arrests, torture and executions, as the PRC government has implemented “counter-terrorism” policies to suppress all forms of peaceful opposition of Uyghurs against Chinese rule.
In the past seven years, Amnesty International has documented that, under a series of PRC“strike hard” campaigns in East Turkestan, “tens of thousands of people are reported to have been detained for investigation in the region, and hundreds, possibly thousands, have been charged or sentenced under the Criminal Law.
East Turkestan remains the only part of the People’s Republic of China where Uyghurs are still executed for non-violent crimes of political opposition to the Chinese state.
The Chinese government, by deliberately confusing violence and civil discontentment, has taken heavy-handed measures to marginalize Uyghurs in Western countries and to libel the peaceful nature of the Uyghur resistance against Chinese rule.
The case of Uyghur-Canadian Huseyin Celil, the attacks on the family of prominent Uyghur leader and human rights activist Ms Rebiya Kadeer and the death sentences recently handed to several Uyghurs in East Turkestan reveal the extent and disproportionate nature of the PRC’s repressive policy against Uyghurs.
As a result, so-called “counter-terrorism” policies have added fuel to Chinese nationalism and xenophobia among ordinary Chinese citizens who are duped into believing in the politically fabricated and inherently false accusations against Uyghurs.
One of the most serious and pressing issue Uyghurs are now facing is the recent forcible transfer of young, unmarried and mostly teenage Uyghur women ranging from 16 to 25 years to Eastern China under the guise of “providing employment opportunities and generating income.” Already, hundreds of thousands of young Uyghur women have been forcibly transferred from East Turkistan into Beijing, Tianjin, Jiangsu, Qingdao, Shandong, Zhejiang, and other locations.
According to the report of The Xinjiang Daily on March 20, 2007, there had been 240,000 instances of the transfer of the local labour force from the Kashgar Region to China’s eastern provinces in 2006.
These girls are not allowed to return freely to their hometowns and are forced to work 12 hours each day under terrible working conditions.
At present, local and central government authorities continue to implement aggressively the policy of transferring young Uyghur girls to Eastern China in the name of reconstructing the internal labour market.
However, the selection of Uyghur girls and their forcible displacement in no way suggest that the real intention of the government is to reduce poverty among Uyghurs, nor even that it aims to bridge a massive wealth gap between China’s eastern and western regions. Rather, the main aim of the policy is not only to use these Uyghur girls as cheap slave labor and potential sex workers, but also, more alarmingly, to culturally assimilate them into dominant and prevalent Chinese culture by uprooting them from their own unique cultural environment and reducing their opportunities to get married with Uyghurs in their hometowns.
Finally, it is, without doubt, a well-planned strategy to reduce the size of the Uyghur population in areas where the Uyghurs are still the majority and to fill in the vacuum left after the transfer of Uyghurs with upcoming Chinese settlers.
Under PRC policies of assimilation, Uyghur language schools are being closed and Uyghur teachers are being forced out of their jobs.
According to a research study conducted by the Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Fund, “In the past decade, and with increasing intensity since 2002, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has pursued assimilationist policies aimed at removing Uyghur as a language of instruction in East Turkistan.
Employing the term ‘bilingual’ education, the PRC is, in reality, implementing a monolingual Chinese language education system that undermines the linguistic basis of Uyghur culture.”
The religious expression of Uyghurs is strictly controlled by government authorities, including the appointment of imams by the government who are instrumentalized to promote and spread communist propaganda, the confiscation of passports in order to prevent Uyghurs from participating in the Hajj and restrictions on the establishment of religious schools.
In its 2008 annual report, Human Rights Watch summarised the religious persecution of Uyghurs as follows: “The government only tolerates religious activities in state-controlled religious venues, conducted by state-appointed clerics.
Minors are prohibited from participating in religious activities and, in some localities, barred from entering mosques. In June Xinjiang authorities started confiscating Muslims’ passports in an apparent bid to prevent them from making non-state-approved pilgrimages to Mecca.” Under the unbearable restrictions on their religious life, Uyghurs are struggling to preserve their religious traditions that have formed a crucial part of their identity for centuries.
The aforementioned violations of human rights of Uyghurs have led to an ongoing clash between the imposition of the assimilation policy of Chinese authorities upon Uyghurs from above and Uyghurs’ life-and-death struggle to maintain their cultural identity from below.
It is neither a clash of civilizations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are now witnessing, but it is a profound clash between violence against human dignity and the right to maintain one’s own cultural and spiritual resources against this very violence.
The story of the 17 Guantanamo Uyghurs who are now lingering in solitude, helplessness and despair is heartbreaking. No free country has ever come forward to help them out, to give them a safety haven so far, except for China from where these men fled in search of freedom.
China’s aggressive and even uncompromising claim for the deportation of these men to China without delay is driven by the political desire to send the frightening message not only to Uyghurs but also to the whole world about how helpless Uyghurs are and, by contrast, how powerful China is.
The situation of these Uyghurs is pretty much existentialistic—they are condemned to be freed soon, though they have nowhere to go.
Their story, in the strictest sense of the word, magnifies the story of whole Uyghurs—they are condemned to pay fatal price for their perpetual aspiration for freedom.
Uyghurs, like their kinsmen in Guantanamo, is deeply stuck in political limbo—neither do they do away with their nostalgic memories of freedom in the past, nor do they anticipate a promising freedom in the future.
In the run-up to China’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review at the UN in Geneva, the international community has been keenly observing any progress made in the human rights situation in China since the decision of the IOC to entrust the organization of the Olympic Games to China. Unfortunately, no substantial progress and developments in the human rights situation of Uyghurs in China has ever been made to date. Uyghurs are still living in a culture of fear, facing persecution and assimilation.

Ala Mamtimin (erkinlikteolush@yahoo.com) is currently a doctoral student in the Higher Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium. The title of his doctoral thesis is "Under the Cloak of Darkness: A Pluralistic Approach to the Notion of Anonymity."
Radio Free Asia (RFA), Last Year Female Labour Force Transferred from Kashgar Reached 240000, Mar. 19, 2007.
back to top Uyghur Language Under Attack: The Myth of “Bilingual” Education in the People’s Republic of China
see this Pdf file

China: Events of 2007, Human Rights Watch, 2008. (See http://www.hrw.org/legacy/englishwr2k8/docs/2008/01/31/china17604.htm
Scores killed in China protests, 6 july 2009
watch the video

Dalai Lama talks to Rebiya Kadeer 29 juli 09



terug naar boven

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Venerable Bagdro toespraak, in het theater aan de stroom te Antwerpen op 16 juni 2009

Hier volgt een stukje uit de speech van Ven. Bagdro.
Daaronder staat de brief die Bagdro op 16 juni 2009 schreef naar het Internationaal gerechtshof in Den Haag, om Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Li Peng en Zhang Qingli, 4 kopstukken van het Chinese bewind, aan te klagen wegens genocide.
(foto: Han)
In 1970 werd Bagdro in een gezin met 3 zussen en 1 broer geboren. Zijn vader, een voormalig monnik, werd door de bezetting onmogelijk gemaakt monnik te blijven.
Hij gaf zijn geloften terug en trouwde. Aanvankelijk ging Bagdro in zijn geboortedorp naar school waar hij “heropvoedinglessen” kreeg in het Chinees.
Tibetaanse taalles en boeddhistisch onderricht, het hart van de Tibetaanse cultuur, waren verboden.
Meer nog: het boeddhisme wordt door de Chinezen als demonisch afgeschilderd waardoor Bagdro als kind een enorme angst ontwikkelde voor de afbeeldingen van de godheden uit de boeddhistische traditie.
Voor hem en zijn klasgenoten waren de Potala en de Jokhang tempel in Lhasa slechts musea waarvoor entreegeld betaald diende te worden. Met teksten als: “lang leve Mao” en “lang leve China”. waren de thanka’s die hier hangen beklad.

Door het gebrek aan informatie (er was geen tv of andere media) wisten Tibetanen niet of nauwelijks van het bestaan van o.a.
Europa of Amerika. Op 5 maart 1989, tijdens het Mön-Lam festival, ontmoette Bagdro twee Amerikaanse toeristen die hem over de
in ballingschap levende Dalai Lama vertelden en hem het boek ‘My Land and my People’ gaven. Tot dat moment was Bagdro nooit
bezig geweest met de bezetting van zijn land laat staan met de strijd om onafhankelijkheid.
Hij vertelde hoe hij het boek heimelijk las en wat dit voor uitwerking op hem had. Plotseling begreep hij de oorzaak van het lijden van zijn landgenoten
en wie daarvoor verantwoordelijk waren. Hij besluit actie te ondernemen en maakt ’s nachts posters met: “Free Tibet” “China go out””
en “Long live HH de Dalai Lama” die hij, met alle gevolgen van dien, verspreidde…

Wat Bagdro, en zijn lotgenoten, tijdens hun gevangenschap aan martelingen en vernederingen moeten ondergaan,
tart elk voorstellingsvermogen. In een misselijkmakend relaas beschrijft hij hoe hij ziet dat celgenoten ondersteboven
worden opgehangen en tot bloedens toe geslagen worden terwijl deze gruweldaad door de bewakers spottend “picknicken”
wordt genoemd. Ook vertelt hij over de knagende honger waardoor mensen hun eigen kleding probeerden op te eten.
De zo nu en dan uitgedeelde karige hoeveelheid brood werd door de bewakers eerst in een strontemmer gegooid waarna ze er soep
van maakten. De gevangen werden vervolgens gedwongen deze “shitsoep” te eten… Op een dag werd Bagdro urenlang blootsvoets op
het ijs gezet en mocht zich niet bewegen. Nadat zijn voeten waren vastgevroren werd hij omvergeduwd waardoor de huid van
zijn voetzolen werd gereten. En zo gaat zijn getuigenis door. Te vreselijk voor woorden. Te vreselijk om te herhalen.
(Zie zijn boek: “Hell on earth” of “Fire under the snow” van Ven. Palden Gyatso).

Wat is er dan nóg vreselijker dan deze misdaden tegen de menselijkheid? Dat wij in het Westen inmiddels precies weten wat er in Tibet
gaande is en de Chinese regering niet kunnen of willen confronteren. Waarom laten wij dictators als Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin,
Li Peng en Zhang Qingli gewoon hun gang gaan? Voormalig minister Li Peng is persoonlijk verantwoordelijk voor het hardhandig
neerslaan van de vreedzame studenten demonstratie op het Tiananmen Plein in 1989. Onder de wrede Chinese bezetting zijn reeds
1.2 miljoen Tibetanen gestorven. Hoe veel nog? Hoe lang nog?”

De opnames van de lezing van Bagdro staan nu op YouTube (in 4 delen)

Bagdro, moine tibétain emprisonné et torturé par les Chinois
zie ook deze link naar 20minutes.fr

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Ven. Bagdro wil Chinese dictators berecht zien in Den Haag,

de Brief die Ven. bagdro schreef aan het Internationaal gerechtshof in Den Haag:

Internationaal Gerechtshof
Vredespaleis
Carnegieplein 2
2517 KJ Den Haag
Nederland
16 juni 2009

Geachte Excellentie en alle Rechters van het Gerechtshof,

(foto:Han)
Met hoop, waarover ik me verheug, schrijf ik U. Deze brief is een heel geschikte mogelijkheid voor mij om het volgende onder uw aandacht te brengen.
Mijn naam is Bagdro en ik ben een Tibetaanse monnik en voormalig politiek gevangene. Op dit moment woon ik in Dharamsala in India.

Wij, de Tibetaanse vluchtelingen, leven buiten Tibet vanwege de illegale bezetting van ons land door China.
China respecteert de internationale wetgeving en het internationale recht niet omdat het Tibet is binnengevallen.
De Chinezen houden Tibet al sinds 1949 bezet en maken zich schuldig aan een uiterst gewelddadige en wrede onderdrukking.
6000 Tibetaanse kloosters werden verwoest en meer dan een miljoen Tibetanen vermoord.
Ook nu gaan de Chinese leiders nog steeds door met hun criminele bewind in Tibet, hun culturele genocide en hun misdadige activiteiten tegen de menselijkheid.
Het Chinese bewind veroorzaakt enorm lijden onder het Tibetaanse volk.

In 1987, 1988 en 1989 kwam het Tibetaanse volk in opstand. Ondanks het feit dat deze drie demonstraties vreedzaam waren gebruikten de Chinezen geweld tegen de vredelievende deelnemers aan de demonstraties.
De Chinese President Hu Jintao zette uiterst gewelddadige militaire macht in, net zoals de voormalige President Jiang Zemin en de voormalige Minister President Li Peng.
Deze criminele dictators onderwerpen het Tibetaanse volk aan ongekend lijden. Zijne Heiligheid de Dalai Lama heeft zijn uiterste best gedaan om een vreedzame dialoog met China op gang te brengen maar de Chinezen blijven zich tegen het Tibetaanse volk keren en is er vooralsnog geen oplossing voor de Tibetaanse kwestie.

De Chinezen gaan door met hun genocidepolitiek tegen het Tibetaanse volk. Sinds 10 maart 2008 waren er veel vreedzame demonstraties op het gehele Tibetaanse Plateau.
Ondanks het feit dat ook deze demonstraties vreedzaam waren gebruikten de Chinese President Hu Jintao en de Chinese Gouverneur in Lhasa Zhang Quigli militaire macht en tanks tegen het Tibetaanse volk.
Op 14 maart 2008 gaven Zhang Qingli en generaal Hu een toespraak voor het Chinese leger waarin ze zeiden dat ze het leger niet lang konden trainen en dat dit voor het Chinese leger een uitgelezen kans was om tegen de Tibetanen te vechten en ze te doden als een soort militaire training.
Het Chinese leger hulde zich in monnikskleren en vermoordden Tibetanen en zelfs Chinezen.
Op deze manier probeerden ze de Tibetaanse cultuur in een slecht daglicht te stellen. Dit is de reden waarom meer dan 200 Tibetanen vorig jaar werden vermoord.
6000 zitten er nog steeds gevangen en meer dan 1000 Tibetanen worden nog steeds vermist. Zo zorgde China voor een bloedbad in een zeer spiritueel land. In de gevangenissen worden mensen vreselijk gemarteld,
ze worden lichamelijk en geestelijk geweld aangedaan en vrouwen worden er verkracht.
De huidige situatie is te vergelijken met de Nazitijd en de wandaden van Hitler.

Ook gaat de Chinese regering door met de vernietiging van het milieu. Ze produceren atoomwapens en voeren nucleaire testen op het Tibetaanse plateau uit.
Heden ten dage is Tibet een grote militaire basis en een openluchtgevangenis voor het Tibetaanse volk geworden. De situatie in Tibet is een hel voor het Tibetaanse volk.

Om deze reden ben ik op 19 mei 2008 naar het Spaanse Gerechtshof gestapt om er over gerechtigheid voor 6 miljoen Tibetanen te spreken.
Al meer dan 50 jaar lijdt het Tibetaanse volk onder het bewind van de dictators Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Li Peng en Zhang Qingli.

Ik was verrast dat de dictator Slobodan Milosevic onder druk van de VS, de VN en de NATO in 1999 voor het Internationaal Gerechtshof werd gebracht.
Daarbij werd de Irakese dictator Saddam Hoessein in december 2006 opgehangen. Dit is dan ook de reden dat ik respect voor het Internationale Gerechtshof en gerechtigheid in het algemeen koester.
Hierom neem ik deze gelegenheid ten baat om mijn eis kracht bij te zetten dat U Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Li Peng and Zhang Qingli voor Uw gerechtshof daagt.
Ik stuur U deze brief en voeg er een boek dat ik geschreven heb aan toe. De inhoud van het boek is er slechts een uit ‘n miljoen verhalen.

Ik verzoek u om deze zaak in het Internationale Gerechtshof te bediscussiëren en wacht uw beslissing af.
Ik zal drie maanden wachten op Uw rechtvaardige besluit. Mocht ik geen antwoord krijgen op deze brief dan zal ik voor het Internationale Gerechtshof komen protesteren.
Ook zal ik dan al het bewijsmateriaal van de genocide met me meebrengen: foto’s van vermoorde mensen, dvd’s enz.
Dit lijden, waarover ik spreek, gaat niet alleen maar het Tibetaanse volk aan maar geldt evenzeer voor het eigen Chinese volk: onschuldige burgers, Falun Gong beoefenaars, studenten van de democratische beweging en boeren worden ook vermoord.
Deze vier mensen, Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Li Peng and Zhang Qingli zijn gevaarlijker dan Slobodan Milosevic en Saddam Hoessein.

Ik wacht op uw antwoord en hoop dat het niet te lang uitblijft. Ook zal ik deze brief tijdens een persconferentie voorlezen en hem over de hele wereld gaan verspreiden.

In alle oprechtheid

Venerable Bagdro.



Tibet is still crying tears of Hope
deze video zegt het helemaal
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http://www.tibetancommunity.be, voor verdere info

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Statement of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile on the occasion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s birth anniversary-2009

Today, on the occasion of the Birth Anniversary of our esteemed Temporal and Religious leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, I, on behalf of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile would like to welcome and greet the Sangha, family members of His Holiness, Prominent Tibetan dignitaries, former and serving officials, representatives of the non-governmental organizations, the general public, beloved students, invited guests and more particularly the six member Australian Parliamentary Delegation headed by Michael Danby and family members.

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was born at Amdo region of Taktser in Tibet to benevolent parents on the 6th of July 1935. We are indeed blessed by your leadership following your recognition as the undisputed reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. On this auspicious day we offer our heartfelt felicitations and to lead all the sentient beings in general and the Tibetans in particular to the path of enlightenment, we pray for your long life and also for your endeavors to flourish to eternity.

Tibetans all over the world have been celebrating His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Birth Anniversary every year with gusto and gaiety. However, the sad situation inside Tibet has deprived the Tibetans inside Tibet of this simple opportunity to rejoice and to celebrate. Moreover, unfortunately any sign of merriment to honor the day would result in incarceration. That in a nutshell is symbolic of the unyielding malaise that has afflicts Tibet.

Today is not only the day to honor His Holiness for his achievements in the last more than seven decades but also to recall and review as to how much have we been able to follow the path shown by Him.

His Holiness continues to take the responsibility of spreading happiness through the message of peace, love, compassion and universal responsibility. Moreover, irrespective of whether one is a believer or not, by promoting moral and ethical values, he has been trying to build a better world that we live in. His Holiness’ disarming charm have won many hearts and transformed lives of many people. The wisdom and method in His Holiness’ preaching of Buddhism made Buddhism more relevant and widespread in this modern world. The adaptability of Buddhism to redress innumerable strife and stresses despite technological and economic development is a major contribution of His Holiness to humanity. No wonder, people from all parts of the world flock to listen to him and many honored him in myriad ways.

His Holiness is also committed to promote inter-religious harmony through discussions to end divisions and discriminations with leaders of many other religious traditions. It should be the common endeavor of all to understand and realize that religion is meant for peace and harmonious co-existence. In fact losing Tibet is not only devastating but also brought untold suffering to the Tibetan people. However, people of the world gained a lot from His Holiness’ insight by being in exile.

If it had not been for the prudent leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, most probably, the Tibetan issue would have long been forgotten. Through His profound wisdom, vision and pragmatism, we have made remarkable achievements in terms of preserving our identity and promoting our culture and religion despite the adverse circumstances in exile.

Politically, even though the processes of dialogue have not yet yielded the desired result given the stubbornness of the PRC leadership, the world community and the Chinese intellectuals and the general public understands and support the realistic approach adopted by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile. Eventually it is but natural that better sense will prevail upon the Chinese leadership if the sovereignty and common interest of all the nationalities within China has to be preserved for a harmonious society. The very fact that the issue of Tibet is alive and also the fact that it cannot be ignored but resolved, is due solely to the leadership of His Holiness.

The all round remarkable progress made during our life in exile and more particularly in democratic reforms has laid the foundation of a long term struggle if the need be.

In keeping with the benevolent and prudent leadership of His Holiness, today is also the time to remind ourselves of our own responsibilities to our country and to the world.

While sharing the woes and untold sufferings of the Tibetans inside Tibet and acknowledging the sacrifices made, we in exile recommit ourselves to represent you in the free world. You have proven the fact that the indomitable spirit of the Tibetans cannot be quelled by force under very difficult circumstances. However it is essential that we have to adhere to the principles of non-violence, which many of you have demonstrated through your actions. Our actions should not become a tool for our oppressors. Under the leadership of His Holiness, a time will definitely come for our union. Every one in Tibet must focus on educating the future generation of Tibetans.

As a people struggling to return back to our homeland, the Tibetans in exile have the added responsibility to take our movement forward. For that it is essential that we keep ourselves informed of situations that concern us. Each and every Tibetan must be politically aware and contribute in whatever capacity possible. The responsibility of making ourselves economically self sufficient, sustainable development of our communities, providing quality healthcare and education to our future generation should be a joint effort between the people and the government. People should actively participate in all the processes of democracy, thereby enriching our democratic experience and strengthening democratic polity to fulfill His Holiness wishes and lay a solid foundation for our future struggle. We must abide by all laws, and avoid irresponsible actions by few that defame the Tibetans in general. We must better relations with the people and governments of our host nations.

His Holiness’ birth anniversary is also one of the few occasions for the Tibetan diaspora in the developed countries to meet in large numbers. Irrespective of the hardships that you are encountering in creating a space for yourself at the moment, we must at all times be conscious of our responsibility towards the cause. There must be concerted efforts to strengthen the respective Tibetan communities in your country or the area that you live in to teach our youngsters the moral and ethical values that His Holiness espouses apart from learning Tibetan language, culture and religion.

Once your own living standards improve, the Tibetan communities in the west should be able to adopt poorer settlements in India or sponsor education or health based projects inside Tibet. No matter how much political freedom we achieve in the future, as long as Tibetans in Tibet remain uneducated and impoverished, we will always be enslaved in some way or the other.

I take this opportunity to urge the Chinese leadership to come out of their delusion, understand the reality and resolve the Issue of Tibet in a peaceful manner that will contribute to peace, stability and harmony not only in China but the whole region. China will not find a more pragmatic leadership than His Holiness in finding a mutually beneficial solution to the Issue of Tibet. If China fails to make use of the opportunity, the present leadership of China will be held responsible for their irresponsibility by generations of Chinese people to come. The present Chinese leaders are deluded by their economic and military prowess but genuine respect could be commanded only with moral authority. They must understand that this could be achieved only by respecting the fundamental human rights situation in China and peacefully resolving the Tibetan Issue that meets the aspiration of the Tibetan people and all other nationalities within China.

In conclusion, on the occasion of the His Holiness the Dalai Lama, may His Holiness the Dalai Lama live for eternity to serve humanity and may the Tibetans in Tibetans in Tibet and in exile be united earliest.

Tibetan Parliament in Exile
6th July 2009

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8 July 2009:

The 168 member organisations of the International Tibet Support Network (note 1) express their deep concern over the tragic events that are unfolding in East Turkestan (Ch: Xinjiang) . We call on the government of China to release those who have been detained for peaceful protest, restore internet and mobile telephone communication to Urumqi, permit unfettered access to journalists, cease its propaganda campaign that is contributing to the violence, and allow the United Nations to conduct an independent investigation. ITSN members send a message of solidarity to Rebiya Kadeer and to members of the World Uyghur Congress at this tragic time.


As with the protests that erupted in Tibet in 2008, China is following the same approach it used to "manage" the situation there including:

- tightly controlling foreign media (some of whom are in Urumqi on a government-organised tour).
- shutting down internet and mobile telephone access to prevent information getting out of the region and control what its own citizens are told about events.
- conducting night-time raids which have led to the arrests of many hundreds of people.
- flooding news broadcasts with images and statements that present protestors solely as violent rioters, thereby inciting ethnic conflict (see note 2).
- without proof, blaming the expression of legitimate grievances on "hostile foreign forces" (in East Turkestan's case, Rebiya Kadeer and the World Uyghur Congress; in Tibet's case, the Dalai Lama and his followers).

Sixteen months after a wave of overwhelmingly peaceful protests began to sweep across the Tibetan plateau, Tibet remains under virtual martial law, with more than 1,000 people still unaccounted for, who were detained during the period of unrest. More than 200 Tibetans have been killed during the protests and hundreds more arrested and sentenced, including four men and one woman sentenced to death (three with a 2 year reprieve) for taking part in the unrest in Lhasa on 14 March 2008. The executions of Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak could take place any day.


Despite China's occupation of Tibet and East Turkestan for over half a century, Tibetans and Uygurs have never accepted Chinese rule and continue to advocate for basic freedom and human rights. By denying Tibetans and Uyghurs control over their own lives, the Chinese government's policies in Tibet and East Turkestan are destroying stability, not creating it.


Members of the International Tibet Support Network fear that, as in Tibet, the Chinese authorities will escalate their crackdown in East Turkestan with lengthy prison sentences, disappearances and beatings. As with Tibet, we call on the international community to press the government of China to work sincerely for a peaceful resolution to the 60-year long occupation of East Turkestan. We echo Rebiya Kadeer's urgent call for peace, justice and the end of all violence and appeal to the Chinese government to end its brutal suppression of Uyghurs throughout East Turkestan.


Note 1: The International Tibet Support Network is a global coalition of 168 Tibet related non-governmental organisations, which works to maximize the effectiveness of the worldwide Tibet movement. ITSN Member organisations hold varied positions on Tibet’s future political status, but all regard Tibet as an occupied country and are dedicated to ending human rights violations in Tibet, and to working actively to restore the Tibetan people’s right under international law to determine their own political, economic, social, religious, and cultural status.


Note 2: A report published by the Gongmeng Institute in Beijing recently pointed out how the Chinese government's virulent propaganda campaign over the Tibetan protests on 14 March 2008 stoked divisions between Chinese and Tibetans. The report said: "The ensuing over-propagandizing of "violence" was used to make the 3.14 incident ever larger, which created certain oppositional ethnic sentiments... Such propaganda actions are in the long run detrimental to ethnic unity. The fascination that Han citizens have expressed toward Tibetan culture changed to fear and hatred of the Tibetan masses." See http://tibetnetwork.org/chinesevoice


Hu Jintao will miss the G8 summit in Italy (and has cancelled a state visit to Portugal) to fly home and deal with the crisis in E Turkestan (Xinjiang).
The BBC, which reports that thousands of troops have flooded Urumqi, says "Our correspondent (Quentin Sommerville) says the authorities in Xinjiang have been told they have to sort the crisis out as soon as possible amid the embarrassment of Mr Hu having to cancel his G8 attendance.
He says promises by the government of Mr Hu, a former party leader of troubled neighbouring Tibet, to guarantee ethnic harmony and stability in western China increasingly lack credibility."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8139065.stm

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The Statement of the Kashag on the Forty-Ninth Anniversary of the Tibetan Democracy Day

Today marks the forty-ninth anniversary of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's outstanding efforts to transform the nature of Tibetan polity into a genuine democracy.
On this auspicious occasion, the Kashag — as a way of expressing its immense gratitude to His Holiness for his gift of democracy to us Tibetans — makes obeisance to him.
The Kashag also extends its affectionate greetings to the Tibetans inside and outside Tibet; to the governments, parliaments, peoples and the Tibet support groups who are supportive of Tibet and the Tibetans; as well as to all the peace-loving people cross the globe.

During the past 49 years, a great change — political, economic and social — has taken place across the world, including in Tibet and China. Tibetan democracy has also kept pace with this global trend for change and progressed over the years.
The highest organ of Tibetan democracy, the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile (TPiE), has been elected 14 times and the political leadership or the Kalon Tripa twice by the general Tibetan populace thus far.
Hence, going by the conditions as set forth in the Charter of the Tibetans in Exile, our democracy has today become complete both institutionally and system wise.
Moreover, the fact that the Tibetan people at the grassroots level are now able to effectively participate in all processes of democracy, including the periodical elections, has become something that the peoples and communities across the world covet.
Particularly, during the preliminary opinion poll that was conducted in 1996 as well as during the last year's special meeting convened under Article 59 of the charter, Tibetans at the grassroots level freely exercised their individual freedoms to correctly determine — without being swayed by hearsay — the short- and long-term aspirations of the Tibetan people as a whole.
This — being a clear indication of the maturity of democratic culture among the Tibetan people — has not only gone a long way in fulfilling the wishes of His Holiness the Dalai Lama but it also serves as a source of great encouragement for those of us in the leadership.
The Kashag would like to, therefore, express its sincere appreciation to all of the Tibetan people for this.

In order for us to attain greater heights towards true democracy, these conditions are indispensable: education of the people; intellectual freedom; awareness of and understanding/tolerance among the various viewpoints, positions and ideologies; wisdom to distinguish between what is right and what is wrong by eschewing narrow parochialism, etc.
Not only is it important that these conditions be improved further but it is also all the more important indeed to be able to choose institution over individuals and duties over rights by judiciously applying the Buddhist concept of the Four Reliances.

In today’s time, the rate at which the political, economical and societal changes taking place globally as well as in Tibet and China, it is difficult to predict the future about anything. Therefore, all the Tibetan people inside and outside Tibet must tread cautiously so that we do not make mistakes and lose opportunities.

Last year, the Tibetan people inside Tibet, even at the great risk to their lives and properties, took out a peaceful protest and as a consequence, a large number of Tibetan people had to undergo extreme torture and loss of property.
No doubt their sacrifices will not go in vain and will contribute greatly to the realisation of the cause of Tibet. The Kashag would like to appeal to all the Tibetans that it is important for us now to see to it that we do not put the lives of common people in danger and also make every possible effort not to create any differences and animosity between the Chinese and Tibetan nationals.

Under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan people in exile everywhere are not only trying to improve understanding with the Chinese people but we also express sympathy and support to people affected by natural calamities wherever it may be. This is in accordance with the tenets of the Buddha’s teaching as well as the very nature of the Tibetan people. Last year, when earthquake hit China’s Sichuan province, the Tibetan people in exile did everything they could in terms of offering prayers and contributing to the relief efforts. Moreover, His Holiness the Dalai Lama expressed his strong desire to visit the affected areas to console and offer prayers but he could not visit due to the political situation. Recently, when a typhoon hit Taiwan, His Holiness the Dalai Lama immediately sent condolence message and offered prayers for the victims and their families. Following the request made by the people of Taiwan, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is now there, visiting the affected areas and providing spiritual comfort to the people living in these areas. The spiritual service he is conducting in Taiwan is not only aimed at the wellbeing of all sentient beings but also at the improvement of relations between the Chinese and Tibetan peoples.

A time has, now, come for the third generation young Tibetans in exile, who are equipped with both traditional and modern education, to be able to take up political responsibilities. The Kashag believes that they will be more responsible than ever before in the political and administrative affairs of our society.

Finally, the Kashag prays for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the spontaneous fulfilment of all his wishes. May the Tibetan people inside and outside Tibet be reunited to enjoy the fruits of democratic freedom!

The Kashag
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Phayul (betekend: vaderland) dagelijks ge-update nieuwsberichten over Tibet.